Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1887-06-29
THE WORLD OF SPORT.
Baseball = Chicago Making Z
Fine Showing in the Pen.
nant Race.
Tho Recent Games with the Heavy Hits
ters from Detroit and Their
Result.
foH1cAao coRREspoxDEscE.l


the League championship games has como
and gone, and the teams In the race have
settled down to their work IN style that
presages one of the greatest struggles for
championship honors ever recorded in the
history of the game professionally. Be.
yond all question last weeks games with
Detroit were the most interesting ever seen
at White Stocking Park, and the mngnih-
cent batting OF both teams during tho
series gave the felders work enough to
make every game lively beyond de-
scription from start 70 hnishs
O. lsaSings s4hossa Gg4sp a1nm4 it,
Fridays game yonr correspondents met .
base ball enthusiast, who boasts of nos
grounds in seven years.
"Well, What do you think of Detroit?" I
asked him.
THUS far" said he, Detroit has done
the best ball playing we have seen in Chi
cago this season. ltmay not be considered
J by some the acme Of skillful ball playing,
but it has suited the people a deal better,
just the same. A to game must neces-
sarily be close and prettily contested
affair, but there is something In the game
in which runs are being scored at the rate
of two or three an inning, as the result OF
good hard work with the stick, that the
rank and file of those who attend the
games like, and when you hear OF . game
in which the batting has been brisk and
timely you are pretty safe in assuming that
the grand stand and opens held an in-
terested and enthusiastic crowd. IT there
is any pleasure in watching pitcher strike
out five or six men in two successive in-
nings and then see him retire as many
more on foul tips, pop-up flies or short
hits to the infield in the next two
innings, myself have not yet discovered
the meat in that kind of game. Why,
tako Thursdays game for instance. Coula
anything have put more life into that crowd
than did the heavy batting work Of the Chi
cago boys in the fourth inning? 1t caught
the people, because it kept them in high
state of expectation until the innings ended,
and because it gave ample opportunity fog
quick movement and fielding and base-
running ability. will bet there was not y
man present at that game who left tho
grand stand dissatisfied with the exhibition
he had seen. unless Of course he may have
been one Of thoe fellows who happened
to have case note or two upon Detroit.
You can always expect lots Of fun and ala
inte resting game when you get together y
couple of hard-hitting teams like Chicago
and Detroit"
Detroit has certainly got the science Of
batting down to fine point, and one Of the
prettiest exhibitions OF their proweSs wit
the stick was that Of last Friday, when they
beat Chicago IA to 10. They started right
in to paste the leather at the opening Of
the game and kept it up to the finish.
There was but one inning in which the
Wolverines failed to score one or more
upon the ball, the hit, AZ rule,
proved costly 10 the White Stockings.
Watkins made no secret Of the fact, when
he took his team upon its Southern trip
last spring, that he proposed to drill them
more thoroughly in the use of the stick
than in any other point of play, and with
the material he had in hand, the wisdom OF
his policy can now be appreciated. A team
that can jump into hard hitting game
from the very outset, in fact. open the firft
inning with home run drive, is going 10
make things lively for the other fellows, mo-
matter how much of phenomenon their
pitcher may be or how clever their fielders.
Chicago, however, is proud OF its record,
while the Whites were down East that
when they next met Detroit they would be-
fairly driven into the earth. The
result was different, however, for We beat
them two straight upon their own grounds,
and last week took two games out OF three
from them, besides hitting their pitchers .
great deal heavier than they hit ours.
Baldwin pitched in Fridays games and
was hit very hard.
It will be remembered that when Bald
win FIRST made his appearance here he WAS
very wild in his delivery. This was owing
to his fear that he would hit the batsman.
Baldwin broke one of Jevne's ribs in .
Northwestern League game last year, and
it has taken him until now to recover from
the fright which he suffered that day.
When ut his best Baldwin pitches with
tremendous speed, and it is little wonder
that he sometimes gets alarmed at the risk
batsmen take when they face him.
The Philadelphia team is playing about
the same game it played last ycar-just
good enough to be bothersome, but not OF
sufficient steadiness to carry the train To
the front. Ferguson continues to pitch
superb ball, but his support 10 often weak
and Encouraging.
Nobody can foretell what the Washing-
tons are going to do when they step into
the diamond. They are more erratic than
the Phillies in their play, and fully as
troublesome.
The following table shows the standing
OF the League clubs up TO date:
THE LEAGUE.